August 24th, 1945 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Repair ship HMS Cape Wrath launched.
Frigate HMS Padstow Bay launched.
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Union releases 52 American internees.
Pacific Fleet: Submarine "L-19" is lost - mined at Laperouse Strait. (Sergey Anisimov) (69)
INDIA: Frigate INS Sind is commissioned.
JAPAN: Military cadets occupy broadcasting facilities in Kawaguchi, Japan in protest to the Japanese surrender. This is near Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture. General Tanaka goes to the station. He enters and continues to harangues the cadets until they give up.
Late that night, in his office, General Tanaka commits harakiri. He takes the whole responsibility for the destruction by fire of a section of the Imperial Palace. The fire was the result of a USAAF bombing raid. His instructions to the regimental commanders of the Eastern District Army are:
"I am very grateful to all of your regiments for keeping in strict order after the Imperial command to surrender. Now I have fulfilled my duty as Commanding Officer of the District Army. I am determined to lay down my life to beg His Majesty's awful pardon in place of you and all of your officers and men. I heartily hope that you and all your officers and men will strictly watch yourselves and guard against rashness and be devoted to the peaceful revival of our fatherland."
Off Japan, the former Japanese Navy transport vessel Ukishima Maru, carrying 4,000 people, mostly Koreans who had been forced labourers in military facilities in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, being returned home, left Ominato port today.
The 4,730-ton ship exploded and capsized as it neared Maizuru port, around 5:20 p.m. today.
Among the 4,000 people on board, 524 Koreans and 25 Japanese were killed, according to the Japanese government announcement at the time.
It is assumed that the Ukishima Maru struck an American mine. (Gene Hanson)
KURILE ISLANDS: US Eleventh Air Force B-24s try to photograph the Soviet occupation but are impeded by clouds.USNPB4Y-2 Privateers of Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Twenty (VPB-120) based on Attu and VPB-122 based on Shemya photograph Onekotan, Shasukotan and Harumukotan Islands.
CANADA: Tropicalisation refit of HMCS Stone Town cancelled at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
U.S.A.: The last M-24 tank built by the Cadillac Division of the General Motors Corporation rolls off the assembly line. Cadillac is now free to begin building automobiles for the first time since 1942.
Minesweeper USS Murrelet commissioned.
Submarine USS Sarda launched.
The motion picture "Pride of the Marines" is
released today. Based on the book by Roger Butterfield, this war drama, directed
by Delmar Daves, stars John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark, Rosemary
DeCamp and Mark Stevens. The film is based on the real life story of Marine Al
Schmid who was blinded while fighting on Guadalcanal. The film is nominated for
a writing award.
The top songs on the pop record charts are (1) "If
I Loved You" by Perry Como, (2) "I Wish I Knew" by Dick Haymes,
(3) "Till The End Of Time" by Perry Como and (4) "You Two Timed
Me One Time Too Often" by Tex Ritter. "Till The End Of Time" is
ranked Number 2 for the year 1945.
Maestro Arturo Toscanini, the conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, agrees to return to Italy next February to conduct the opening performance at La Scala opera house.
In baseball, the Cleveland Indians' ace Bob Feller returns from the Navy and attracts a home crowd of 46,477 in Cleveland Stadium, who watch him strike out 12 and yield only four hits in a 4–2 win over Detroit's Hal Newhouser. Feller will get nine starts during the remainder of the year, and his five wins will include a one-hitter and two 4-hitters. With the war now over, fans are clamouring for entertainment and it is clear Feller is still baseball's number one ticket seller.